“Your vote counts for the Europe you need to see.”
Article by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola
2024 would be the world's greatest election yr in historical past. A big a part of the world's inhabitants might be referred to as to vote, together with the individuals of Cyprus together with over 400 million different Europeans. This yr might be a decisive yr. For Cyprus, for Europe and the world.
By voting for the members of the European Parliament you take part within the largest supranational elections on the planet. Your vote counts. It counts for all of us, for our freedom and rights. For us, free elections are the cornerstone of European democracy, but too many take them as a right.
Within the final European elections, just below 45% of Cypriots went to the polls. I hope that this yr extra individuals in Cyprus will make their voices heard. Particularly with the struggle on the EU's borders and the prospect of resuming negotiations to finish the 50-year Turkish occupation. Don't let anybody else resolve for you.
Your vote counts for the Europe you need to see.
Within the final 5 years, the European Union has achieved unprecedented outcomes. We’ve joined forces to defend our values and our lifestyle. We did it in solidarity. We’ve procured vaccines for all residents of the European Union. We’ve resolutely supported Ukraine. We deliver our neighbors nearer to us, enhancing our collective safety. As a result of we all know that we’re stronger, safer and acquire extra once we are united.
Our historic settlement on asylum and migration, which is a key precedence for frontline nations like Cyprus, strikes the precise steadiness between accountability and solidarity. Will probably be honest to these in want of safety, robust on these ineligible for asylum and hard on traffickers who exploit probably the most susceptible.
New European local weather laws will deliver us cleaner air, more healthy rivers and seas. Thus Europe will develop into the primary climate-neutral continent by 2050. Along with the digital transition, it’s going to provide new alternatives, enhance our competitiveness and produce financial progress.
Not one of the above has been straightforward, however that makes our successes all of the extra vital. Regardless of predictions on the contrary, now we have confirmed that Europe can reply to the problems that matter to Europeans. Points that can not be solved by a single nation in isolation.
This doesn’t imply that the European Union is ideal. Certainly, I share many frustrations with a few of its processes — however I imagine that Europe can obtain much more if we proceed to behave collectively. As a result of in a world the place struggle is now not unthinkable and the place individuals residing in a democracy are fewer than these residing in non-democratic nations, our Europe has develop into a superpower of rights, freedoms and prosperity.
It’s true that through the years we might have develop into complacent in our achievements. This has led to the rise of populism which gives false solutions to advanced questions. It breathes a harmful narrative attempting to simplify issues. One thing that carries the danger of threatening our democracy from inside.
That is the problem we face within the coming months earlier than the elections for the nomination of the members of the European Parliament. This is the reason the residents of Cyprus ought to make their voices heard on June 9. Loads is at stake.
That is the message I’m bringing to Cyprus at present and I’m spreading it all through Europe. After June 9, a complete of 720 MEPs will come to Brussels — the six from Cyprus. Who these individuals might be and what they are going to symbolize is in your fingers. They are going to formulate insurance policies and approve laws that impacts the entire of Cyprus and Europe. It's as much as you to decide on, to vote. Don't take Europe as a right.
